iahawks550 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Craigslist deal where the buyer has the stuff listed in only one area (which makes me think it's not a scam), but has some really good prices on sealed items. When asked about shipping, they said they would, and when I asked about making sure it was a legit transaction so neither of us (mainly me ) wouldn't get screwed over, I got this response. First part was asking about the phone number, which checked to a different state. No the number is old. I never changed it. I have www.greendot.com Www.serve.com Or visa or MasterCard via http://plusbyems.com Your more than welcome to call them and verify me. http://plusbyems.com What am I missing. Am I a sucker waiting to get suckered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migration Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Have a Brickpicker local to the listing call on it and check it out for you. Some have been known to help out if you ask very nicely. That said you're nervous for a reason. This has a less than 35% chance of being legit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawks550 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 Yeah, it's not that far away. But, would be about a 4 hour drive. (although I have a reason to drive 3 hours to visit someone along the way) So, it would be nice if it all worked out, as I could kill two birds. I just emailed back to see if I could look at everything before purchasing. I suppose if the answer is yes, it may all be legit, and I will just make the drive. It looks like I could end up spending $500-1,000 pretty easily, and it would net merchandise "worth" double to triple that amount. The reason I'm being so non specific is I've had a great baseball card collection taken out from underneath me when asking a question on a forum. I'm never the greedy type, but I did all the work, and another poster creeped in and killed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migration Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Craigslist puts it best. "Deal local, pay cash." Most of the scams will disappear once you talk about meeting in a public place. Just mention that you will be in the area and could pick the lot up my guess is they will find a reason that you need to pay online. In which case run away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawks550 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 She sent back an email that said, "it's an 8 hour drive round trip, with a bunch of gas money. Probably not worth it, but I will be here if you want to look before buying" I asked now if she has an eBay account. I'm thinking about suggesting doing something that way. I would obviously pay more, but it would give me some protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migration Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Also will let her know what her stuff is worth. Go visit your someone and pick the stuff up while you're out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawks550 Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 She says she is a merchant and I can call to verify her good standing with this EMS thing. I think it's something I need to do in person. She may be completely legit, but still not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fcbarcelona101 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 She says she is a merchant and I can call to verify her good standing with this EMS thing. I think it's something I need to do in person. She may be completely legit, but still not sure. The deal might be legit, but every time something like this has come up I would let it go if the seller would not agree to either meet or sell it through ebay at a higher price. In some cases, if the deal is THAT good, it might be worth a couple hours drive...but you never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lodibricks Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Craigslist deal where the buyer has the stuff listed in only one area (which makes me think it's not a scam), but has some really good prices on sealed items. When asked about shipping, they said they would, and when I asked about making sure it was a legit transaction so neither of us (mainly me ) wouldn't get screwed over, I got this response. First part was asking about the phone number, which checked to a different state. No the number is old. I never changed it. I have www.greendot.com Www.serve.com Or visa or MasterCard via http://plusbyems.com Your more than welcome to call them and verify me. http://plusbyems.com What am I missing. Am I a sucker waiting to get suckered? Am I the only one that's never heard of any of those services? At least it wasn't wire transfer. Still seems odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justafrog Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Am I the only one that's never heard of any of those services? At least it wasn't wire transfer. Still seems odd. Yeah, me either. And "I'm a merchant, and I'm in good standing with this service nobody's ever heard of" would not inspire confidence in me. If a trip to visit the 3 hour friend is appealing to you on its own merits, an additional hour to go check out what she allegedly has for sale seems sensible to me. Otherwise, for me (remember I am lamentably cautious and take my cowardice into consideration ) this one would max out the "hinky" scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinemaps Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Here's some words to consider: you can't win them all. You're not going to win every set. You're not going to get every deal. Whether it's time, resources, or money. Sometimes, you just have to let sets get away. I know the general investment rule is "with great risk comes great reward." For me, it's unusual that I'll take the time to drive an hour for a great CL deal. If it's worth it for you, go for it. But be sure you're doing it for logical reasons, and don't get caught up in the emotional about it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregpj Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Am I the only one that's never heard of any of those services? At least it wasn't wire transfer. Still seems odd. It appears the first two don't have anything to do with selling.. they are prepaid debit/credit cards. And the last is a site that sells credit card processing devices for an iphone which to use you need to be in person. The good thing about the last one is that if it is legit, you can a) pay with a credit card to avoid carrying $1000 cash and you have some protection in the case that you get this stuff home, open it up and it's not what it seems. VISA or Mastercard would go after her for your money. Could be legit, but I'd only do it in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawks550 Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 I couldn't figure out the first two link, either. I've decided to just scrap it.....for now. I may keep an eye on it and if I'm in the area, see if she still has stuff for sale. I suggested the Ebay thing with Best offer, where I would pay 15% above what we agreed on, but that went no where. I'm leaning about 60% towards some sort of scam. Here's the ad http://littlerock.craigslist.org/tag/4487569898.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migration Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 That's a scam. I've seen those same pics in many other adds. Notice that they all have different back grounds and are of differing quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iahawks550 Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 You are right. I did some more checking on things in the last couple of days, and also noticed a few more similar ads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen_rockefeller Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Green dot is super popular with scammers....basically they have a visa card and you transfer money to their card. Super hard to track.....a member way back when this site started got scammed from someone using green dot. Run away from this as fast as you can and don't look back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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